Operation Alto Mare
by Aura Master
Summary: WARNING: THIS IS AshXOC. DON'T LIKE IT DEAL WITH IT! While traveling through Sinnoh Ash get's a phone call about a disturbance in Alto Mare. After receiving Intel about the OP Ash finds out that it's not the Soul Dew Team Rocket is after. What is it then? AshxOC.
1. Chapter 1

**Me: Hello and welcome to my new story.**

An orange yellow sun yawned downward over the mountainous horizon of the sky across the wandering forest below. In an opening a roaring fire was lighting up the small area around it, cracking from the ashes colliding and the energy flashing into smoke and it flew into the sky before getting rushed by the wind and disappearing as if it were in a magic act. Down in the clearing sat three figures, all eating what looked like their dinner.

"This stew is good Brock." The female of the three said. Her blue hair cascaded down her back and down to her waist. She wore a black sleeveless shirt with a thigh high pink skirt. Covering her head was a white beanie with a pink half pokeball symbol and the sides of her hair held two yellow clips.

"Pip Piplup!" The little blue penguin sitting beside her agreed as it chomped down on the pokemon food sitting in-front of it.

"Dawn's right brock. This by far is your best stew. Did you use anything different in it?" A raven haired boy agreed. The smiling boy had on a yellow and black striped vest with a white collar and denim jeans matted with some dirt. His spiked raven hair was contained by a red baseball cap with a black and green half pokeball.

"Pika!" A little yellow mouse with red cheeks cooed as it nibbled on some of his pokechow as well.

"Thanks guys. And I added a little extra salt and some onion. Normally I wouldn't put onion in my stew but I thought I'd try it and see if it tastes good." A dark skinned man informed finishing up his homemade stew. He was dressed in a brown and orange jacket that was opened a little so you could see his green shirt and wore brown and black jeans with many pockets so he could carry more stuff than he normally could.

"It gives it a unique but great flavor. You should do that more man." The boy known as Ash Ketchum commented as he finished the rest of his stew. Standing up he walked over to their set up picnic table and placed it so it could be cleaned later. Not a minute later the female known as Dawn finished as well. Standing up she patted the dust off her skirt and walked over to the table, Piplup and Pikachu following with the empty bowls on their heads. Ash took the bowls and set them on the table next to the pots and pans used to make dinner.

Ash stretched his arms and back, "Well, I'm gonna turn in for the night. See ya guys tomorrow." He said after checking the time on his watch, notifying him it was 10:00 p.m. He waved his two companions and dragged his tired legs over to his tent, his faithful little mouse following him. Dawn and Brock agreed, seeing it was time for them to turn in as well. Following Ash's example they said goodnight to one another and walked to their tents for a good night sleep. As the moon shown in the middle of the sky a low buzz rumbled on the ground near Ash's sleeping bag.

Ash woke, tired, "Huh, what is that?" He felt around the ground and grabbed his vibrating phone. Washing the sand out of his eyes he glared at the small screen and saw Professor Oak calling.

He answered, "Hello?" He asked groggily.

"Ash, I need you to do something important, but it involves taking a detour on your journey." The professor informed. Ketchum noticed a tone that he rarely heard from the professor and nodded intently, the sleep depriving itself a little.

"Go on." The professor nodded and started explaining what was done. About 10 minutes later Ash took in what the professor had wanted and nodded, eyes narrowing.

"Got it. I'll be at Johto in about 5 days." Ash informed in a tone even he rarely used. He shut off his phone and made sure to get ready for an explanation tomorrow. Dawn came over the mountains faster than Ash had expected. But despite the sun shining through the plastic window of his tent he refused to get up but his fellow little mouse had other plans. Wanting Ash to get up before breakfast called Pikachu gave a small shock to his ribs causing Ash to jerk upwards, wide awake.

"Huh, what happened?" His head shot back and forth, his ribs tingling with pain.

"Pi Pika!" His Pikachu screeched in annoyance. Ash laughed, embarrassed.

"Sorry. Hey, how about we take a vacation?" Ketchum asked his faithful pokemon.

"Pi?" The mouse tilted his head, confused. Ash chuckled at his mouse.

He patted his head, "Don't worry, I'll give the details at breakfast. What time is it?" He asked, yawning. Said boy checked his watch and saw it was...

"Did you really wake me up at 6:00 a.m.?" He asked half-angry, half-tired.

Pikachu scratched his head, embarrassed, "Pi, Pika." He apologized but soon the mouse's face turned serious, "Pika Pi, Pikacha Pi." Ash bit his lip, Pikachu knew about the call last night.

Ash sighed, putting his head in his hand, "Fine, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone else, got it?" Pikachu nodded and Ash told the Pikachu who listened intently throughout the entire thing.

Pikachu nodded and gave a small smile, "Pika Pi. Pikachu Cha." The little mouse held out a paw, showing his master he would support him and help him through this journey. Ash smiled and shook his first pokemons' paw. Checking his watch again Ash saw it's been 20 minutes. Seeing as there was no point in heading back to sleep the 14 year old boy stood as best as he could and un-zipped the tent and stepped out onto the dewed grass, stretching his spine back into alignment from sitting forward, groggily for that matter.

"Morning Dawn." Brock said without turning away from his cooking.

"May I ask when I became a girl Brock?" Ash smirked and Pikachu snorted a chuckle. Brock flashed around, shocked that Ash was awake this early.

Brock flushed from embarrassment, "Sorry Ash. I didn't know you were up this early. Why are you up this early anyway?"

Ash glared down at Pikachu, "Pikachu gave a _little_ shock to my ribcage. I think I might be feeling that for a few more days. Plus I wanted to discuss something with you and Dawn." Pikachu and Ash nodded silently at each other, both knowing what the little rodents master had in plan.

Brock nodded, "Ok. Dawn's not up yet and I underestimated how much water I needed. Could you grab some more for me?" Ash nodded and Brock tossed two canisters to Ash who caught them easily and strolled off into the woods, his fellow mouse following. Soon Ash got to the lake and sat down, Indian-crossed legged style and opened one of the canisters and slid it into the water, the roaring waves of the river splashing onto his hand as it filled one of the containers to its brim. A rustle heard in the bushes was heard to Ash and he snapped his eyes to its location, trying to act as casual as possible. When he snapped the cap on a figure shot out from its hiding spot and ran towards Ash.

"Pika!" Ash's first pokemon warned. Hearing his cry Ash threw the closed canister to the side and rolled in the opposite direction, dodging and incoming fist. Regaining his balance Ash snapped from the ball and slid on his hands and feet, the rocks scratching his skin.

"Your reaction times are getting faster Ketchum, I'm impressed. But you can't rely on your Pikachu warning you forever." The figure spoke as he reclined his fist from the rocks and dirt from where Ash was before, smacking the dirt off. Ash stood, looking at the person who attacked him. He wore a metal chest plate with dragon skin outlining the form. The middle of the dragon-metal chest plate held a small design, a vortex with two dragons being sucked into it on opposite sides. The lower part of his body held what looked like heavy armor made of iron it looked like. His helmet he wore was a mask from a game Ash used to play. Ninja Gaiden was it?** (A/N: No Copy Right intended)**

Ash patted the dust off his clothes and rolled his eyes, "What are you doing here? I thought you were gathering info on Team Rocket?" He seethed a little.

The masked warrior shook his head, "Professor Oak sent me here to give you some info about your mission and a little protection as well. Here's the info." He cleared his throat and pulled out a paper.

"It turns out the DMA is in danger once again. Unfortunately before I could get any info they spotted me so I had to bail with the info I had. I did find out about this though: they plan to use it as a distraction so they can steal their main target, which will be used to power a weapon the Leader of Team Rocket is building to take control of something. I need more details on that. But here are some extra details about your assignment and this as well. It was your fathers." The masked man handed Ash the paper holding the details and unclipped something from his chest and handed it to Ash.

Ash took the paper and the item, "This was my fathers?" He gazed at the belt and noticed a sword attached to it. The sword was coated in a sheath and had a simple pommel, hand grip, and cross guard. Ash clipped the belt to his waist and pulled the sword from his sheath and saw it was primarily made of wood. Pulling the sheath off its 'holster' Ash saw some designs to it. It had little metal designs, with a small metal design near the hilt, and another small metal design half way along the blade. The last quarter is has a metal covering and finishes to a point.

The man nodded, "Yes. Good luck on your journey and make sure no one finds out what we're doing." The man was about to leave when Ash called him.

"Wait! How am I supposed to hide the sword?" Before the man could answer Pikachu showed his voice for once in this conversation.

"Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu pointed to the sword and him, and then made little notions only Ash could tell.

Ash nodded, "'K then, well try your plan. Here, but be careful." Pikachu nodded and took the now sheathed sword.

Ash turned to the man, "Hey..." He couldn't finish as the man left without a trace. Ash nodded, a small smile lit on his face. Ash filled the last canister and grabbed the one he tossed and headed back to camp ahead of his little mouse so his friends won't be freaked out or scared at the sword that belonged to his father. Ash headed back to his friends and luckily for him they were too occupied to see Ash was gone for longer than he would normally be. Pikachu took this chance and snuck into Ash's tent, no one the wiser.

Brock noticed his return, "Hey Ash! Bring back more water?" He asked, noticing Ash held two canisters. Ash nodded and fast walked over to the table and slid the canisters to Brock. Said man grabbed them and slid one canister open and emptied about half into the pot. The extra water being forced into the pot caused steam to rise from the pan, making the temperature around it hotter. Brock stirred the noodles for his breakfast and reminded his friend something.

"Hey Ash, weren't you gonna tell us something?" The oldest of the three asked his old friend. Dawn was intrigued by this.

"What were you gonna tell us Ash?" The youngest was confused but exited. Ash noticed she was bubbling.

_I swear at times she has ADD..._ Ash trailed off but cleared his throat, "I was thinking: why don't we take a vacation?" Both the coordinator and breeder were shocked at this and Dawn almost spat out the water she had.

"Ash, are you sick? This doesn't normally sound like you." Brock stuttered a little, almost messing up his cooking. The boy just chuckled a little and continued.

"I'm fine Brock. Here's this, I have seven Gym Badges and we've been training for non-stop since getting the last badge against Candace. Why don't we just take a break and relax, and hopefully get away from Team Rocket for a while." All three humans chuckled at the trio that was still making failed attempts at trying to catch Ash's Pikachu.

"That sounds like a good idea Ash, but the nearest ferry is," Brock stepped back from his cooking pot and pulled his map out, "Well, it would be back at Snowpoint, but I'm not too sure if a ferry can operate there. If not, then it's back at Canalave. It would take _months _to get back there unless we have some strong flying types, and Staraptor's the only one." Ash inwardly cursed, he hadn't thought of that. They started pondering on what to do when Dawn suddenly shot from her seat.

"Why don't we call Zoey! Her home _is_ back in Snowpoint so I can just call and ask her if the ferry is up." Brock and Ash nodded with small smiles, thanking Dawn. She waved them off and excused herself from the table and walked towards her tent and used her Poke Gear to call Zoey. Dawn waited anxiously and was about to give up after 30 seconds of waiting when a red head appeared on her screen.

"What is it Dawn? I'm trying to take a nap." The red head asked groggily, a little annoyed as well. Dawn giggled embarrassed with a small blush on her face.

"Sorry Zoe. But Ash was wondering; is the ferry where you are working? I heard it didn't work after the horrific snow storm 2 years ago." 2 years prior to Ash coming to Sinnoh a horrific snow storm unlike anyone had seen ripped through Snowpoint, knocking out most of its resources and transportation from the ferry.

Zoey thought about that and nodded a few moments later, "Yeah. It got back up and running a few days later after you guys left. Why?"

"Ash thought it was a good idea for us to take a vacation, after all we went through Snowpoint," Dawn tapped her head and shrugged, thinking of nothing else.

Zoey raised an eyebrow, "Ash, thinking? Wow, never thought I'd see the day." Both the females laughed while Ash sulked.

"I can never get a break can I?" Ash mumbled. Brock patted his back, a sweatdrop forming on his head. The females stopped laughing and Dawn nodded, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Haha... Thanks for the info Zoey. We'll be popping by Snowpoint in a few days." Dawn informed with a cheery smile and closed the line. Turning her head to the group she noticed Ash rocking back and forth, in the fetal position. Dawn sweatdropped, a creeped out look etching across her face.

"Um... Is he going to be ok?" Dawn asked, not noticing his transition of mood during her call with Zoey.

Brock chuckled lightly, "Nothing really important. Ash, you can calm down now, everyone knows that you think." It seemed to work...a little. Yet just enough to get Ash out of his depressed state of mind. The fourteen year old sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"So, based on your call I'm guessing that the ferry is working and we can head to Johto?" Ash asked, relaying the phone conversation into one sentence. Dawn nodded an affirmative causing Ash to smile lightly, "Good then. When should we set off?" He stood up from his seat on the table and glanced between his two friends awaiting their decision.

"Well if we start packing up now we can leave and arrive in Snowpoint by noon tomorrow." Ash nodded and stood up, fast walking towards his tent and entered. Dawn and Brock shrugged and started to pack up their stuff in and around their camping grounds. Inside the tent Ash sat on the ground, rolling his sleeping bag up when Pikachu held out his paws, his masters' sheathed sword in hand...uh paw.

Ash smiled, "Thanks Pikachu. Let's hope I don't need to use it though." Pikachu new that his Pikapi hated killing anyone, be it human or pokemon. Ash took his sword and slid it through his zipped open backpack, carefully maneuvering it around his stuff as to not break anything, whether be it his sword or his supplies. After making sure it stayed and wouldn't be swayed, Ash smiled lightly and zipped his pack up and started to pick everything up in his tent and finishing up rolling up his sleeping bag. A minute later Ash shimmied out of his tent, following after the backpack he slid out first. Stepping out he noticed the campsite, well where they eat, was _completely _deprived of their stuff, all stuck in Brock's somehow endless backpack.

Ash whistled, "Wooooww, you guys cleaned house." Ash chuckled lightly seeing the immaculate camp site before him. Brock and Dawn nodded happily, seeing their work wasn't just for show. They scurried towards their tents and basically repeated what Ash was doing, without the sword moment. Ash started to undo his tent from the ground and start to pack together in a case. As soon as he was done Ash slid his back down a nearby tree, thinking about the data and the plans the masked warrior and Professor Oak told him.

_Who was that masked warrior anyway? For as long as I've known him I've never seen his face before. Who is he?_ Those and many more questions rolled through Ash's head as he waited for Dawn and Brock to finish up packing up. Not more than a few minutes later did Dawn and Brock finish packing up their tents and set them on the ground near Ash's.

Brock knelt down and waved a hand in-front of Ash's face, "Ash, are you there? Hello, earth to Ash." Snapping out of his trance Ash shook his head from all thoughts that garbled together in those few minutes of thinking.

"Ya, what is it Brock?" He asked, standing up, his Pikachu following suit. Seeing the looks his friends were giving him Ash raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"

Broke spoke up, "You ok Ash? You looked _extremely _spaced out there for a minute?" Ash just shook his head, wasn't _he_ supposed to worry about _them_, not the other way around?

"I'm fine Brock, just hoping we can get to Johto alright. You guys ready," He asked. They nodded their heads and grabbed their tents, Ash nodded, a grin on his face, "Then let's head out. Brock you have the map right?" Brock nodded, a silly smile on his face remembering the times Ash got them lost because: A) He held the map upside down, B) He lost the map, and C) He was to headstrong for his own good to listen to a piece of paper that wouldn't surely find their way around, no...because Ash new where he was going. Let's just say his ego was deflated when all they found was trees...trees...and more trees.

Ash followed suit, a silly smile on his face, "Ok then, back to Snowpoint!"

**Time Skip AWAY!  
(A/N: No, I will not show any traveling, if there is any...)**

Arriving in Snowpoint just a few days later, the snowflakes nipping lightly at their skin. The three companions shook off the excess snow on their coats and walked towards the pokemon center. They would've left immediately after entering Snowpoint but the next ship wouldn't leave dock until about next day, around 7:00 a.m., plus when forgetting to wear your coats for half the trip the tiredness and coldness can get to ya.

When they entered the pokemon center Dawn broke the silence, "Wow that was cold!" She referred to the jacketless portion of the trip.

Ash chuckled lightly, smacking the snow off his jacket, "I agree with that Dawn. Maybe we should've been smarter and slid our jackets on _before _we saw the snow, not after we were two feet deep in it." All three shared a laugh before Brock realized something...

"Nurse Joy!" He yelled happily, seeing his "true love". Yet right as he started running towards her Ash clotheslines him and sends his longtime friend to the ground in a lump.

"I am so lucky that I called in early to book a room..." Ash mumbled, slightly scaring Dawn at his altering mood.

Ash walked up to Nurse Joy, "Hi again Nurse Joy. Not to sound blunt but can I get the room key I reserved?" Nurse Joy smiled and nodded, handing him two room keys with J-3 typed onto it. Ash mouthed thanks and walked back to Dawn.

"Hand me yours and Brock's poke balls so I can let Nurse Joy heal them. Here," He snatched a poke ball from Brock's belt and held it out towards Dawn, "Take Happiny and have her bring Brock up to our room," By this time he tossed a room key into Dawn's open hand, "And I'll be there in about 5 minutes." Dawn nodded and gave her poke balls to Ash while the 14 year old took Brock's two poke balls attached to his belt and walked over to Nurse Joy again, this time holding his friends' pokemon while Dawn and Happiny took care of Brock.

"Here Nurse Joy, can you heal mine and my friends' pokemon?" The nurse nodded and held out a small bucket, seeing how many poke balls there were. Ash placed Dawns, Brocks and his in respectively. Pikachu, since he didn't stay in his ball, just jumped onto the table and let Nurse Joy pick him up. Nurse Joy walked off leaving Ash alone. Seeing nothing to do and not wanting to go up to his room just to go back down later he just popped a squat on a couch nearby. Surprisingly no one was at the center, because normally every time Ash would enter one of these hospitals for pokemon it would be half to ¾ packed with people. About a minute later of waiting Ash heard a light growl of a pokemon.

"Ab..." Ash glanced to his left to see the disaster pokemon Absol, and it did not look friendly.

Ash gulped, "Uh... Hi?" _Smart move...now you might end up just flesh..._ Ash said and thought at the same time. Seeing that Ash was scared the Absol let about a small laugh as best as he could given his race and let a small smirk cross his face. Ash was confused for a second; his face was downright laughable because of what he was seeing from this Absol. Ash shook his head seeing something glimmer around Absol's neck. Stretching his hand slowly, he reached out towards the object but stopped about 5 inches in. Seeing what Ash was going for Absol stood still and waited. Seeing that the Absol wasn't going to attack Ash reached out and held his hand around the necklace, feeling its odd eight pointer star shape. The pendant was an Angel Star pendant. Ash was surprised, only three of these existed, the Angel Star, Angel Star – Ruby, and Angel Star – Sapphire.

"Like the pendant Ashy?" Ash's eyes widened, he knew that voice, and it scared him. He turned his head slowly, and saw the only female that scared him...more than Misty, and that would be Kaori. He met Kaori during his adventures in Hoenn while training for his gym battle against Brawly. While training he got lost, **(As usual) **and came across the female training with her Absol. When he first met her Kaori was an _outrageous_ flirt, making Ash's brain fly into overdrive. Now, after getting to know her better, she was a sweet female, good at heart, but she had her wild side, and half the time it didn't end well for Ash.

"Uh..." Ash was at a loss for words. Kaori was sitting on top of the sofa, her eyes sizing him up, a small grin on her face. Her black hair had grown, reaching down to her upper back, some strands floating near her violet eyes. She wore a dark blue t-shirt with a slashed heart at the chest and black jeans. To keep herself warm she wears a purple-black jacket, almost sweatshirt kind of style with a hoodie. Kaori's grin widened and she jumped onto the floor, the Angel Star – Ruby pendant necklace flailing around her neck.

She turned to face Ash, "So, do you like the pendant?" She asked again, a small smile adorning her face as she whisked a few lashes behind her ears. Ash was speechless for a few more seconds before snapping out of his trance.

"Ya..." Ash trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Seeing she made her impact Kaori smirked, seeing Ash flustered so much gave her a sense of pride.

"Good to see you still remember me. Well, change of subject, what are you doing here? I thought you already got your gym badge here?" She asked, taking a seat next to him. Ash scooted away slightly, still scared by the black haired female.

"Well, me and my friends decided that we take a vacation, with all the traveling we did so far I think we deserved it... Wait how did you know I had my gym badge? The only time you _ever_ traveled with me was when you were helping me get back to my friends!" _Which took a day and a half for that matter. _Ash thought and said. Seeing as she was caught Kaori bit her lip and blushed.

"Uh... I saw you battling Candice over T.V." Luckily she made it sound like sentence and not a question so Ash bought it and shrugged. Yet before he could speak again Nurse Joy called him.

He walked up to the counter and Pikachu jumped on his shoulder, "Thank you Nurse Joy. Have a good day." He grabbed his poke balls and strapped them to his belt, then next grabbed Dawn's and Brock's and held them in his two arms, Pikachu on his shoulder. He ignored Kaori and fast walked past her up the stairs and got to his room. Having shifted the poke balls into one arm he grabbed the handle and opened the door, to see Brock unconscious on one of the bottom bunks and Dawn was in the bathroom, taking a shower. Ash shrugged and placed the poke balls next to the sleeping Piplup on where Ash guessed was Dawn's bunk.

"You stay here, I gotta go do something." Ash whispered to Pikachu. The small mouse nodded and jumped onto the bunk above Dawns bed. He slipped his pack off and set it on the floor next to the door. Zipping it open slightly he pulled out his father's sword and strapped it to his belt. He slipped out the door and down the stairs to where Nurse Joy was?

He walked up to the counter, "Hey Nurse Joy, sorry to keep interrupting you but is there a blacksmith in town?"

"It's no problem at all sir. And yes, there is a blacksmith. After exiting the building go right until you reach a four-way path, and, still facing forward, take a left. You'll reach the building there. Don't worry about the man as well; he's nice despite the way he looks." Ash nodded and mouthed a 'thanks'. He rushed out the building, hoping to not catch Kaori in another conversation. Unfortunately she noticed his father's sword gleaming in the light, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

_Since when did Ash get a sword? I thought he didn't like hurting a human and/or pokemon?_ She thought curiously, but shrugged in the end. She would get answers from him soon enough. She started grinning wildly...

Ash followed the nurse's instructions only getting lost about five times. Soon he came across a normal house and questioned if this was the blacksmiths house but his confusion was put to rest seeing the ever so obvious sign on the door: 'Blacksmith's Residence'. Ash sighed, how stupid could he be? Knocking on the door Ash heard a faint grunt and a, 'come in'. Ash opened the door to come across a regular residence, but no sign of a human. That soon ended when someone came from a different room. His clothes were matted with metal shavings and sparks. His face was hardened showing he was used to strenuous labor and his muscles showed through his clothing. He had short grey hair with a dark grey beard, a few scars across his face, and one giving a close shave near his left eye. He wore a black long sleeve shirt with a fire proof apron, knowing he was dealing with lava and dark blue jeans and black gloves.

The man grinned, "Hello young lad! What can I do for you?" He walked towards Ash and looked down at him, the blacksmith a good foot – foot-and-a-half taller than him.

"Hello there. Names Ash Ketchum. I want you to see if you could modify this sword." Ash pulled the sword from the sheath and handed it to the blacksmith. The taller looked it over and gave a hearty smile.

"Ah yes, I remember you! I saw your battle against Candice over my T.V. I must say I'm impressed with your battle! I'm known as Gavin Johnson. And about this beauty, I can help you with modifying it! Just follow me and I can help you with your dilemma!" Ash smiled lightly and nodded, following the man now known as Gavin. Reaching Gavin's bedroom the blacksmith opened a hatch and trailed down the stairs, flipping the light switch along the way. Ash followed, hoping that Gavin could fix the 'family memento' as you could call it. There was one thing Ash knew: This was gonna be one hell of a journey.

**Me: AND...DONE! Wow, my second longest chapter... The chapter itself is 5,050 words long and I must say I'm impressed. Now, the Angel Star Pendants were something I found online and thought that I could use those for this. And about the warrior, ignore the chest armor if you think it's stupid. I would go back and fix it but I would probably screw up so much of the story then. The pendant Absol wears I believe is just a little different than the one I found online. Anyway, by the time this goes up Chapter 2 is going up between now and 30 minutes after.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Me: Ugh, welcome back. I just got done (By June 11, 2013) with chatting with my friends, and them staying over. Only two, not 7,000. I also downloaded the RWBY Trailer Songs. Enjoy and see ya later.**

Ash grinned looking over his new sword. After Gavin messed with the sword the blade itself was now had medal designing's etched along the length of the deadly part of the weapon itself. Gavin also messed with the sheath so it was a heavier blunt object that he could incapacitate people with.

Ash shook his head, "I still hope I don't have to use this." He whispered to himself. Ash never fought in hand-to-hand or weapon-to-hand. He was raised to battle with Pokemon. He soon saw the Pokemon Center and saw the metal gate closing. Ash picked up the pace and when in range he slid in snow, not the best idea. Upon reaching the inside of the building Ash immediately shot up and started patting his pants, trying to rid the snow from his pants.

"You are a comedy of errors Ash." Ketchum froze and turned to Kaori who had a decently sized grin on her face and her eyes were laughing. Ash blushed when he saw Kaori staring at him intently. He backed towards the stairs slowly, watching as Kaori's eyes followed him.

Kaori frowned, "Why are you ignoring me? Do you find me annoying?" The question caught Ash off guard as he flinched and his eyes widened.

"Wha? Do you think I'm _trying_ to ignore you?" Ash thought it was absurd; he would never do something like that. And this proves how oblivious Ash Ketchum is.

Kaori obviously didn't believe him, "Whether you're trying or not you were successful." She growled. She stood up and stomped up the stairs, pushing Ash out of the way in the process.

"Pika Pi Pichu." Pikachu deadpanned when he came down. He saw almost the entire thing and decided to appear after watching the show…uh I mean confrontation.

Ash looked up at Pikachu from the floor, "Yeah I know I'm an idiot." He glanced down at the sword and sheath.

"I'm glad she didn't notice the sword _and_ it wasn't slammed into my body either." He mumbled, standing up slowly, the snow now water dripping from his pants. Ash growled at his luck while Pikachu just laughed at his misery. Walking up to their room Ash remembered something.

He kneeled down and whispered to Pikachu, "Are Dawn and Brock asleep?" He asked hopefully. Pikachu nodded with a thumbs up. Ash sighed in relief and checked the door and noticed it was locked.

"Thank Arceus I didn't give Dawn both keys." Ash murmured before turning his key in the lock. He turned the knob and the door opened to darkness. Luckily the window was opened so there was some type of light. Ash decided to just change his pants out and just take a shower tomorrow. Morning once again came by faster than the Ketchum expected as the boy woke up to the sight of the rising sun.

He looked over at his friends' bunks and saw Brock and Dawn still asleep.

Ash rolled his eyes, _First I wake up before Dawn and now before Brock? Guh…_ Ash groaned before sitting up, stretching. He looked at his hands as they rested on his lap, too tired to move. Pikachu came up to Ash and saw that he wasn't moving, which confused the mouse.

"Pi?" The mouse asked. He poked Ash and nothing happened. Pikachu tried pushing, and nothing. Punch, nothing. Finally after a few more failed attempts, Pikachu shocked him, again… Ash jumped and smacked his head against the top bunk and he fell back on his pillow, clutching his head in pain.

"Ow…" Ash moaned, the electricity shifting around his body. Pikachu muffled his laughter and walked towards the door, hitting his head on it, with muffled laughter being heard. Ash sat up and glared at his first Pokemon, but soon gave up seeing Pikachu wouldn't apologize. He stood up and limped towards the bathroom, entering to take a shower. When he walked back out he saw that his friends were still asleep and decided to go downstairs and get some breakfast. He picked up the now calm but still smiling Pikachu and the mouse adjusted himself to be on his master's shoulder.

"Want some breakfast?" Ash whispered. Pikachu nodded happily as Ash grabbed a key and walked out, heading downstairs. Ash saw about three more people, a lucky for him none were Kaori. Again, this shows how dense Ash really is. He walked towards the cafeteria and grabbed a sandwich and some poke chow for Pikachu.

After sitting down, "Here Pikachu. It's not Brock's but it's better than nothing." Ash said, opening the can and letting the pellets of food fall onto a napkin. Pikachu nodded happily before chowing down, Ash doing the same.

A minute later, "This is the second time you've awoken early Ash. Are you sure nothing's wrong?" Brock asked sitting down next to Ash. Brock grabbed scrambled eggs with two pieces of toast.

Ash just rolled his eyes, "Yes everything is fine Brock. I just awoke early a few times, no big deal." Ash waved it off, finishing up his sandwich.

Brock nodded, "Just wondering Ash. I'm just saying that if anything is wrong you can just talk to me." Brock informed. Brock was the second person Ash met while traveling and they really haven't separated since, with Brock being on every journey since. Ash nodded with a small smile, knowing he could count on Brock. Ash suddenly felt an eerie air take over the room and glancing over to the stair case he saw Kaori moving to grab breakfast. Brock followed his gaze as his eyes landed on the female. Kaori felt two pairs of eyes hitting her head, so she turned and saw Ash. She sneered and turned around again, fast walking to the cafeteria.

"Who was that Ash?" Brock asked after their eyes returned. Ash didn't want to let Brock know about her so he tried to play it off.

He shrugged, "Don't know." He tried playing it cool.

Brock wouldn't have it, "With the way you were staring at her, I'm going to have to disagree with you." Ash started panicking mentally but still kept his cool.

Ash shrugged, "And? What does a stare have to do with anything? She's probably just a fan." Ash waved it off, and felt bad having to lie to Brock about Kaori. Brock believed him, somewhat, but decided not to prowl on it, knowing Ash would stand strong. After Brock finished his breakfast the two decided to conduct strategies and new recipes, Ash not really helping with the recipes too much. Dawn came down soon enough and after she got her breakfast and finished it the trio gathered their things and, after giving back the keys, they left for the ferry.

"Zoey _did_ get us tickets for the ferry today right?" Ash asked. Dawn nodded as she pulled out three tickets for the ferry to Johto. Zoey had been kind enough to buy them some tickets but it had depleted her savings a little. Dawn had felt bad that Zoey had to do that and offered that she pay it back but Zoey declined, the red head saying that everything the three have done was payment enough. Dawn still felt bad for not being able to pay her back, but promised she _would_ make up for it. Upon reaching the ferry Ash noted that not that many people were boarding, only about 20 instead of 50-70. Ash was glad that not many people were boarding, this way he could focus on the Intel the warrior provided him.

They flashed the tickets to the guard and he nodded, letting them through.

"Room 17, left underside of the boat." The guard said, checking over the list of available rooms according to tickets. The trio nodded and started heading towards their room.

Along the away, "Did that guard even specify which part of 'underside'?" Dawn whined after 10 solid minutes of walking.

Brock shook his head, "I agree. He should've at least _tried_ to explain." Brock rolled his non-existent eyes. Ash just sighed, using his intuition to find their room in the center of the ship, where the majority of the rooms were. There was a level below this and a level above, but Ash assumed that their rooms were dead center in the ship, since Zoey wouldn't spend _that_ much money for three teenagers.

After reaching a certain door Ash stopped and turned to his bickering friends.

"Hey guys?"

Brock and Dawn turned to Ash, stopping as well, "What is it?" Dawn asked, annoyed. She _knew _that he got them lost again.

Ash pointed at the plate on the door, "Found our room." Dawn's eyes widened while Brock held a hidden grin. Ash just rolled his eyes at Dawn before sliding one of their key cards they got from the guard through the lock. It beeped in confirmation and before Ash opened the door Dawn pushed him out of the way and opened it first, dashing inside.

"Ouch." Ash said, now being hurt twice today. Brock leant a hand which Ash took gratefully.

After standing up Ash cracked his neck, "First Pikachu now Dawn? Who's next?" Ash asked, both sharing a laugh. Dawn suddenly burst from the door, a slight grin on her face.

"Hey guys guess what?" Dawn asked.

Ash crossed his arms, "What?"

"We have a person bunking with us as well."

Brock raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And who would that be?"

Dawn opened the door wider, revealing the person, "She said her name was Kaori!" Ash's eyes widened along with the female in question.

_That's who's going to hurt me._ Ash thought. The two had a stare down, Brock and Dawn surprisingly not noticing.

Brock smiled, "Hello there. My name is Brock, I saw you earlier in the Pokemon Center." He held out a hand.

Kaori stood up and shook it, "Yes, same with you. As you know the name's Kaori." She said, still wary of Ash. To make it seem like they didn't know each other and suspicions wouldn't raise Ash and Kaori played it cool.

"Hello. Name's Ash Ketchum." He held out a hand.

Kaori nodded with a solemn face, "Nice to meet you. Again, name's Kaori." Their handshake was tight, almost no muscle movement. They released the shake, Ash, no one noticing, was shaking his hand at the tight squeeze Kaori gave.

He turned and checked out the room. It was four beds on the back wall that were separated with night stands in-between each of the beds, the outsides of the outer beds having nothing. In-front of the beds was a 32 inch flat screen T.V. with a phone jack for computers. Outlets were located to the right of each of the beds, and there was a closet for those with multiple overnight stays. One bathroom was located next to the door which was where the closet was held, and Ash figured it would just be trouble. There was also a decently sized port window to look out of if someone was bored enough to.

Ash whistled, "Well, seems decent enough. I'm going to the deck." He said dropping his stuff on the bed closest to the door. He grabbed his poke balls and walked out, taking a keycard. Kaori rolled her eyes, Ash always was one to just care about training. One of the things she hated and loved about him.

Kaori shook her head, _Aren't I supposed to be mad at him?_ The feeling she was getting was suspicious at best. Brock set his stuff on the bed closest to the window and Dawn's next to Brock. Kaori knew she had picked the wrong bed.

Up on the deck Ash noticed a medium sized crowd of people gathering around something, and now Ash wanted to know what was going on. Pushing himself through the crowd Ash saw someone he never expected to see again.

"Gyarados use Flamethrower." The red-head proclaimed. The sea serpent launched from his mouth molten fire that slammed into a duel flower pokemon.

"Roselia no!" The male brunette called out when the fire shot the Roselia back about ten feet. When the smoke cleared the male trainer held a sad look when he saw the swirls in her eyes. He sadly returned his Pokemon and left the stage, the red-head female once again victorious.

"Anyone else wanna challenge me?" She called out. Ash got a massive grin on his face at the challenge.

"I will." Ash said, using his new voice to hide himself.

The girl turned to the voice, "Ok! Who are-" She cut herself off as her eyes widened, seeing a familiar face walk into the arena.

Ash grinned, "Hey Mist. Been a while." Ash informed, twirling a Poke Ball in his hand.

Misty had tears in her eyes but none the less grinned, "I agree Ash. It has been a while. Why don't we catch up after I beat you into the dirt?" Misty asked with a wink.

Ash just 'hmphed', "First off there is no dirt on a boat and second, you'll be the one to lose. Gible let's end her streak!" Ash proclaimed calling out the land shark.

Misty rolled her eyes, but smiling none the less, "It's been a while since we've battled. Plus I want a rematch after that Gym Battle. Gyarados let's finish this!" She called to her water serpent.

"We'll start! Gible use Slash into Dragon Claw!" Ash called. The land shark moved in with a Slash and with his open claw he had it turn into a Dragon Claw. Both claws connected in an 'X' and the serpent recoiled before swatting his tail knocking the shark back.

"While he's recovering use Aqua Tail!" Gyarados moved in, his tail gleaming in a blue light. When Gyarados got close Ash called out.

"Gible jump over the tail and clamp onto it with Bite!" Gible jumped over the horizontal strike but before he could clamp Misty countered.

"Gyarados quick use a vertical Aqua Tail and Hydro Pump!" Gyarados quickly sent Gible upward and was sent flying after the pressurized water slammed into Gible's midsection.

"Gible!" Ash called out.

"Gyarados finish it with Flamethrower!" The sea-serpent launched a stream of flames at the flying shark. It engulfed Gible and all you could hear was the land shark screaming in pain.

"Gible!" Ash called again. A white light suddenly engulfed where the fire was, which blinded _everyone_. A loud 'thump' was heard while they were blinded and when the light faded away everyone stared in shock at what caused the thump.

"Gabite!" The pokemon cried, smacking his fists together.

Ash grinned while everyone else was open mouthed, "Alright! Gabite use Dragon Rush!" The evolved charged forward, its fin extending and glowing a bright blue. It smashed into Gyarados's face and it reeled back in pain.

Misty shook herself back into reality, "Quick Gyarados use Hyper Beam!" The sea-serpent, now closer to Misty, charged up a large orange ball of pure energy.

Ash had to think quickly, "Quick Gabite before it can attack use Draco Meteor!" Ash hoped this would work. A blue ball charged inside of the shark and before Gyarados could launch the attack Gabite snapped his head up and launched the now orange-blue ball into the sky. Ash crossed his fingers, pleading that it would work. The ball exploded into multiple which caused Ash's smile to widen.

_Yes, it finally worked._ He groaned in victory. The meteors smashed all around the arena and few hit target, but still dealt massive damage.

However, Ash heard something that scared him, "Piplup!" Ash sweat dropped at the voice.

He face palmed, "You couldn't resist hitting Piplup could you?" He heard his Gabite nervously laugh. Ash decided to forget about that for a moment and looked on the battlefield where the smoke was clearing up. Looking through the remaining smoke cloud and grinned in victory when he saw Gyarados with swirls in his eyes.

"Alright!" Ash cheered, smashing his fists together. He immediately winced at how hard the smash was against his already injured hand from Kaori. Misty sulked, her what, 10 win streak now ended by her first traveling companion.

Misty recalled her fainted Gyarados and walked up to Ash, holding out a hand, "Good battle Ash." She smiled. Ash was hesitant to shake her hand since he was going to shake with his injured one. He decided to just grin and bear it and shook her hand, relieved that she didn't squeeze to hard.

"I agree. I'm just surprised that Gible evolved." Ash praised his land shark.

Misty however had a question, "Why did I hear a pokemon cry out after you launched a Draco Meteor?" She asked, the crowd clearing out soon enough.

Before Ash could answer, a familiar voice cut him off, "ASH!" Dawn yelled, running to him, anger in her eyes. Her Piplup was trailing her, a large bump on its head.

"Ash!" She yelled again. She got up in his face and Ash started sweating as if there was a volcano in the vicinity.

"Hi Dawn…" He stated, backing away. Dawn realized that she couldn't stay mad and just settled for angrily sighing and pinching her nose.

"When will your Gible learn Draco Meteor?" Dawn whined. Piplup chirped angrily in agreement.

Ash scratched the back of his head, "Well first off it's not Gible anymore." He said, tossing out a poke ball to reveal Gabite. Piplup was ready to fight Gible, but then he saw Gabite and instantly fainted. Dawn was shocked at the evolution of the small land shark, now medium land shark.

"Second, Gabite _did_ learn it, but it looks like for the hell of it he wanted to hit Piplup. Right Gabite?" Ash asked, his eyes narrowing. Gabite nervously laughed, scratching, or clawing, the back of his head.

Misty cleared her throat, "You going to introduce me Ash?" Ash suddenly got embarrassed.

He scratched his cheek, "Oh right, sorry. Dawn, this is my first traveling companion Misty. She taught me basically everything I know about battling. Misty this is one of my current traveling companions Dawn. She's a coordinator like May is" He introduced them both.

They shook hands, "Nice to meet you."

"Misty, good to see you again." Another voice popped up behind Dawn. Misty glanced behind the blunette and smiled wildly.

"Brock!" She immediately glomped him. Brock hugged back, and a minute later they let go.

"It's good to see you again Misty. How've you been?" Brock asked, glad to see his fellow gym leader/friend.

Misty smiled, "I've been good. How've you guys been?" She asked, curious about her friends' adventures.

Ash nodded, "We've been good. How are you here anyway? Last I checked your sisters made you come back to the gym." Ash said, remembering back in Johto.

Misty rolled her eyes, "Yeah. But luckily they decided to actually start training after my…um…talk-"

Ash interrupted, "You mean yell." Brock chuckled while Misty just rolled her eyes.

She continued, "-yeah whatever. Anyways they decided to actually train and it worked, so they gave me some off time. How much I don't know, but I decided to go to Alto Mare since another Tour de Alto Mare was going to happen soon. When I took the ferry I didn't notice it took me to… Snowpoint City is it?" Misty asked. The trio nodded in confirmation.

Misty nodded, "Ok. Well, yeah, that's it. So, you guys headed to Johto as well?" The trio nodded again. Misty smiled and said she was glad to meet her two friends again.

Ash thought of an idea, "Why don't we head to the coffee shop and catch up there?" Ash proposed. The other three nodded and they left the arena to the main floor where basically everything was.

Dawn then noticed something, "Hey, where's Kaori?" She asked, looking around them.

Brock answered for her, "She decided to stay at the room and read."

Misty raised an eyebrow, "Who's Kaori?"

Ash answered, "She's bunking with us on the trip. I don't know why she would be bunking though since not that many people are on this ferry." Ash sounded as if there was a trace of venom in his voice. Only Brock noticed it though. Misty and Dawn shrugged, and Ash then noticed something.

"Hey, where's Azurill?" Ash asked, noticing the absence of the Polka Dot Pokemon.

"She wanted to stay home and help my sisters. Well, I let her stay home and she didn't complain." Misty explained. Ash nodded and not more than 4 minutes later they reached the coffee shop. After they sat down and got drinks: Brock got coffee, Misty with tea, Dawn and Ash got water. After about a minute of chatting about their adventures, Misty listening most of the time however since her 'adventures' were just battling challengers, Ash remembered something.

"Oh, I have to head back to our room. See you guys later." Ash said after checking his watch. He quickly left and fast walked towards their room.

Misty raised an eyebrow, "What's got him so jumbled?" She asked with a roll of the eyes.

Brock and Dawn shrugged, Brock speaking, "Not too sure. I saw him acting weird about something this morning, but he wouldn't give an answer to what was wrong." Both Misty and Dawn were also confused.

Upon Ash reaching the room he quickly slid the key card through the lock and opened the door slowly, checking the time.

_4:00 p.m._ He thought, checking inside the room. He heard snoring and saw Kaori on her side, her back to him, and the book she was reading was next to her back. Ash sighed, glad she was asleep so he could look over the Intel that the warrior gave him. Quietly moving to his bed Ash shuffled through his backpack, and grabbed the Intel, setting the three folders on his bed.

He sat on his bed in a cross-legged position and grabbed one, "Hmm… The Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare." Ash would've insulted the person for giving him info about this but his memory of the object was rusty so he gladly read through it.

"Using sophisticated motion sensors in the DMA's control area, one can use hand signals to perform a variety of functions. It can create a lockdown by making metal barriers appear throughout the city and can even control water itself; bending it into the shape of the controller's hand motions. In addition, the DMA can also revive the fossils of Aerodactyl and Kabutops within the Alto Mare museum." Ash mumbled to himself.

He then rubbed his chin, "Now why would Team Rocket use this to distract the citizens? What are they planning on stealing? If they would try to steal the Soul Dew Latias would just repel them." Questions were now swimming through his head.

He then realized something, "Wait, they still need the Soul Dew to power the DMA anyway. What is going on?" Before he could ponder about the DMA and Soul Dew any further he heard Kaori groan next to him.

_Crap. I'd better put these away._ Ash thought with widened eyes. He quickly put the Intel folders away in his backpack, careful not to rip the folders on the blade. After Kaori woke up she looked around the room, and saw through blurred vision Ash.

She narrowed her eyes to see better, "What are you doing here?" To Ash her voice showed annoyance but not enough to make it seem like she was mad.

Ash raised an eyebrow, "Why are you mad at me? What did I do?" Again, _really_ dense Ash.

Kaori rolled her eyes, "You already forgot Ketchum. Like I said before, I could tell you _try_ to ignore me. All I want to know is why." Ash could now tell she was pleading. He felt bad for her, and he sighed, pinching his nose.

"It's just… You can be scary…" He mumbled after the pause.

Kaori raised an eyebrow, "What was that?"

Ash sighed, a faint blush of embarrassment on his face, "I said you scare me…" He said loud enough for Kaori to hear. The black haired female got a silly smile on her face before she burst out laughing at the reason. Ash felt _very_ embarrassed at the reason, but, he felt happy hearing Kaori laugh.

"R-really? That's your reason? That's too funny!" Kaori laughed. She did feel a little annoyed and well, pissed, that that was Ash's reason for him ignoring her.

After a few minutes she calmed down, standing up, "Well that woke me up. How do I scare you anyway?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Ash scratched his cheek, "Well, with how you act… you know, your flirting." He was hesitant on the sentence.

Kaori raised an eyebrow, "So, me being who I am scares you?" Ash nodded. She walked over to Ash and slapped him across the face.

He clutched his cheek, "Ouch!" _I knew she would hurt me!_ Ash said then thought, what he said earlier being correct.

"That's a mean thing to say Ash." Ash turned to Kaori who was shaking her hand, a few tears in her eyes.

"Are you ok?" He asked, standing up. Kaori just shook her head.

"You are such an idiot Ash." Kaori said, walking out of the room.

_**What the hell is going on?**_** Ash thought…**

**Me: Again, don't know what I was happening half of the time. But oh well, here you go. Later!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Me: I feel like going for a chapter three starting 7/14/13 to (Insert ending date here). I know I won't finish on the former but the latter yes. Let's start!**

Ash still stood in the room shocked at what happened, the pain in his cheek evident but forgotten.

He eventually shook out of his stupor, pinching his nose, "Damnit. What the hell is going on?" Ash asked himself. Too many questions were swimming through his head at the moment and it was getting really annoying that he couldn't answer any. Ash just chose to forget everything and just meditate it off, so he could calm down. Ash re-sat on his bed, crossing his legs and closing his eyes, taking in a deep breath. All thoughts were erased and all Ash could see was a white screen in his mind.

An Ash materialized in his mind along with a large touch screen computer. The 'Mind Ash' walked to the touch screen computer a lightly tapped a finger on a folder, and tons of files and pictures appeared and shuffled across the screen, passing by Mind Ash in a flash. The Ash quickly touched a passing picture and it and stopped and grew, multiple different files surrounded it.

Mind Ash raised an eyebrow at the picture; it was him with his arms around a female, and below the two it was a little girl that held similarities to Ash and the larger female. Looking around the pictures he saw multiple letters, one in particular had a blood splatter on it, but one sentence stood out of the splatter, and stuck to Ash.

"_You're too sacred for me to lose. I-"_

"PIKACHU!" Ash heard in the over world. Suddenly a large bolt of electricity surrounded the frame of his body. Ash roared in pain, falling off his bed onto the floor, unable to move because of the paralysis.

"I hate you Pikachu…" Ash murmured in defeat. Pikachu realized Ash wasn't asleep by the sound of his voice and scratched, or pawed, the back of his head, giggling in embarrassment.

The other male who entered behind Pikachu sighed, "Sorry about that Ash. Pikachu thought you were asleep." Brock said, helping his friend onto the bed.

Ash nodded as best as he could, "Thanks Brock." He said. Brock nodded before grabbing a chair, **(I forgot to mention those :P)** sitting next to Ash.

The latter knew something was up, "What's wrong Brock?" Ash asked, already knowing this probably wouldn't end well.

Brock cracked his knuckles, trying to find a place to start, "Since this morning, you've been acting differently, and I could tell it revolves around that girl, Kaori." Ash choked at how quickly Brock deduced that.

Ash sighed, "How so?" He asked. Finding that he could move again Ash slowly lifted himself up so he was sitting pretty straight.

Brock tapped his chin, "Well earlier when we saw her in the Pokemon Center you sounded as if you didn't want to touch a certain subject, when we met her again in on the ship when you and her saw each other I felt an…'air' I guess. Also your guys' hand shake wasn't normal, and on our walk to the coffee shop you sounded venomous on why she was bunked with us. I'll ask you again: are you sure you don't know her? You act as if you do." Ash could tell that Brock genuinely wanted to know. Ash sighed, he knew this would happen, but this soon?

"Ok. Yes, I do know her. I met her during Hoenn." Ash revealed to Brock. Brock looked shocked, how had he not known this?

"What? When?" Ash laughed how Brock sounded but he still answered.

"You remember when I lost to Brawly, and when we set up a camp on top of that mountain?"

Brock nodded, "And you got lost?" Ash nodded with Brock's continuation.

Ash continued, "Yes. Well after I got separated I found her training with her Absol and…" Ash trailed off, a blush forming on his face.

Brock raised an eyebrow, "Yes…" Brock was now acting like a little kid on Christmas Eve.

"She flirted with me." Ash said. Brock was confused, how was this shocking? He then noticed the look on Ash's face; a mystified look with a blush.

Brock put two and two together, "It affected our dense little boy here?" Brock teased and pushed Ash along the shoulder. Ash turned and glared at his friend.

"Hey! I'm not that dumb!" Ash complained with a pout. Brock however just laughed while Pikachu rolled his eyes, knowing the confrontation of the two back in Hoenn.

"Ok Ash." Brock laughed, "Anyway, have you seen Kaori as of late?" He asked, now noticing the female absent from the room. Ash looked away, sighing. Brock noticed the look on Ash's face and immediately drilled him.

"Ash… What happened?" Brock asked carefully. Ash flinched at the voice Brock had and sighed again, before laying back on the bed.

"Last night Kaori met up with me after I returned from a quick trip to the store, and I made her mad. After trying to patch it up just a few minutes ago she slapped me across the face and left." Ash said putting his head in one of his hands.

This next sentence made Ash snap up; "And whose fault is that?" Brock calculated. Ash had a deeply confused look over his face at that but the more he thought the more realization came to his face.

Ash sighed, holding his head down, "It's mine." Brock nodded in confirmation and stood up, shrugging.

"Good. Now when the paralysis fully wears off try and find her-"

"But she doesn't want to talk to me! You expect her to listen when she won't even acknowledge me?" Ash sat sharply, almost falling off if it were not for the nightstand and Brock.

Brock sat Ash up again and sighed, "That's your problem Ash. You're the one who made her like this in the first place, and you should be the one to fix it. And you'd better patch it up before 6:00 because Dawn set up a dinner at the hall up above."

Ash had a look of terror on his face, "You mean one of the 'fancy dinners'?" Brock nodded. Ash groaned in aggravation, he never liked monkey suits. He didn't mind dressing in a suit and fedora during the Wallace Cup. It wasn't bad but he moved during the tournament, for a dinner he wouldn't.

He then paled, "Isn't it 4:30 about now?" Brock nodded with a hidden grin.

"Good luck." Brock said before heading out. Ash groaned before landing back against his pillow, intent on getting revenge against Dawn. Pikachu hopped onto the bed next and crawled up Ash's arm, now on his shoulder.

The faithful Pokemon patted his master's shoulder, "Pi Pika Pikpi." The mouse said with a small smile. Ash popped a small grin before realizing something, what was that vision about? Ash now had so many questions unanswered that even Alakazam would get a headache. The raven haired trainer knew he wouldn't be able to move until almost an hour later, so he had a little bit of time to think of a plan to get Kaori to forgive him, get revenge against Dawn, and a reason behind that text and picture he saw while meditating.

It was 5:30 now and Ash could tell that his legs were now functional. To test this he stood up slowly and immediately fell to his knees, his legs groaning in pain.

"I should've known that was coming." Ash groaned out before standing up somewhat straight, trying to get the blood flowing to his legs again. After a minute of swinging his legs around Ash made his way into the hallway, a keycard in his pocket. He walked around the ship, looking for where to find the black haired female. He soon ended up on the top floor where the coffee shop was. He walked inside, seeing he was thirsty after the water was shocked out of his internal system. He sat down and contemplated ideas of what was mentioned in the former, and soon his eyes lain on someone familiar; Kaori was sitting in the coffee shop as well, only two tables away from him. She had a guilty but pissed look on her face, and it hurt Ash to see her like this. Before he could move Dawn came in and Ash knew he wasn't going to be able to talk with the black haired girl now.

He leant down to Pikachu, who was sitting on the table, "Pikachu, follow Kaori and report back when she's still. And if not, before 6:00, alright?" Ash whispered. Pikachu nodded with a thumbs up before he quickly scurried off and went ninja. Dawn sat down next to Ash with a small grin, as if she was hiding something. Ash gave a sigh of defeat as he watched Kaori leave, but not before a hurting glance was tossed in the direction of Ash. The boy flinched at the cold vibe being sent in his direction, but shrugged it off, not wanting to make Dawn suspicious.

"Hey Ash! I got a surprise~" She said in a sing-song voice.

Ash grunted, "Let me guess; you set up a fancy dinner for us and didn't plan on telling us until ten minutes before it starts to freak us out correct?" Dawn's face was downright laughable by this point and Ash had a hard time keeping a straight face.

"Wha-bu-how-nani?" Dawn stuttered, pointing in all different kinds of directions before she let her arms fall limp.

Ash shrugged, his head on his chin, "Brock told me about an hour ago. I still need to get ready but other than that I'm set. I'm just scouting out the boat, since we're going to be here for about 3-7 days from what the captain said. Might as well get used to the area before then. So, any other things that I should know or are we good?" Ash asked nonchalantly. Dawn shook herself out of her stupor and shook her head and shrugged, not finding anything to say.

When she realized something Ash was already gone, "Yes, there's something you're not telling me. What is it Ash?" Dawn mumbled to herself before she sighed and went back to get ready, seeing as there was less than 15 minutes left till the dinner started seating.

Meanwhile Ash went to the deck, and saw the beauty of the sunset, the glittering light shading itself over the horizon of the crescent like mountain side, the light shimmering in all of its fantastic glow over the ocean blue, concocting a bright but eye watering shine that made the others on deck stare down in wonder how something could be made like that. As smiled as well, his train of thought broken by the sound of his faithful mouse. Ash unknowingly kneeled down and extended his left arm, letting the mouse scamper up. After years of life risking adventures Ash always let his arm down and kneel whenever he heard his mouse.

"Find her?" Ash whispered, letting the breathtaking view settle in.

Before Pikachu could speak up, a voice beat him to the punch;

"Behind you." Ash turned his head to meet the stare of Kaori. She wore a dark blue knee length strapless dress, sparkles on the skirt. Her hair was tied into a low pony tail and held together by a black scrunchie. Ash found himself involuntarily blushing as the pink and orange sunset shone off of the glittering sparkles and the darkness of the dress. Her eyes shone brightly even through the pained violet eyes, which Ash could see.

"You here to slap me again? I have a good cheek that isn't hurt." Ash tried to make light, tapping his uninjured cheek. While his other one wasn't hurt anymore he could still feel a small sting every time he popped a smile or grin that moved the face. Kaori smiled a little but shook her head and joined Ash in staring out into the clear dark ocean, Goldeen, Magikarp, Chinchou, and Lanturn hopping out of the water every now and then.

"I never planned on it." Kaori mumbled. Ash turned to glance at her, shaking his head with a sigh.

"You know I never meant to hurt you right?" Ash asked, shifting his shoulders to get Pikachu on his right shoulder.

Kaori ran a hand through her hair, "I know that. What _did_ hurt however was the fact that you don't care about the _real_ me. You're scared to know the _real_ me. And that's what stings."

Ash sighed, "At least you're honest. And the reason why I'm scared of _you_ is because you do so many unexpected things, you take people by surprise and give them little to no time to react, and with your," Ash fought off the pink rising, "Flirtatious attitude, you give people a sense of warning, and make sure they watch you with contempt, afraid of your next movement that would scare them away." Ash explained, a small frown glittering his features.

Kaori never thought about it, but shot back none the less, "Don't forget Ketchum you do the same thing, and look how many enemies you've made, and how little friends you've made as well." Kaori snapped with venom, causing Ash to flinch and bring a tear to his eye.

His head held down, "That may be true, but would you ever sacrifice yourself to defend your friends, even if it means you die?" Ash said in a monotone voice, but he knew it struck home as Kaori backed away, deep hurt penetrating through her heart.

"Before you cause physical harm against me for that comment, know that if someone gave me a gun, and I had to choose to shoot myself or you, I would pull the trigger, the barrel locked onto my temple." Ash said in a broken voice, memories shouting themselves to the front of his brain, causing his head to pulse in pain. He clutched his head in pain, kneeling down. Kaori's and Pikachu's face immediately held worry as the kneeled down, Pikachu hopping off of his master's shoulder.

"Ash?" Kaori asked in worry. Ash just moaned in pain as a vision snapped through his head;

_Destruction and fire ravaged the water city, nothing able to stop it. Buildings crumbled under the loss of support, the metal beams up to stop anyone from escaping the searing waves of fire. People were crushed and left to die by the ones they thought loved them, and in the center of all the chaos, stood a tall, prideful man, clutching a poke ball. On the opposite, a young man was kneeled, scratches outlining his body, his broken but still moveable limbs clutching a thinning breathing female, her eyes crying tears of blood instead of the liquid that was exiting her body through the breathing, and she was having her last._

_The tall man marched towards the broken teen, grabbing his hair to pull his head up. The broken man; his ebony hair charred and falling, his brown eyes full of red, shining with irreversible agony, his face scarred and bloodied, the 'z' marks no longer visible through the dust and mud. His mouth was hung open like a fish out of water, some teeth busted and missing._

_The man grinned in victory, shoving the teen to the ground, his grip never lost against the female. They both fell to the ground finally, the boy, even though his arms groaned and whined to be free, never lost their grip on the losing girl, her skin getting ever paler._

_The brown, clean haired man tossed the poke ball into the air, revealing the large cat with a ruby engraved in its head._

_The man turned away and walked towards the only available exit, only stopping to utter his final command._

"_Finish them Persian." He said before sauntering away, showing any running civilians roughly into the ground, their bodies to eventually be trampled by the oncoming traffic._

_The cat grinned and meowed in victory and slowly pawed his way over to the almost gone couple, their last moments not to their finest dreams._

_The boy craned his neck slowly to get one last look at his will to live, knowing she was already at the will of God, ready to be treated with respect and care, like she deserved._

_He cracked one last smile before he pressed his lips to her pale, cold forehead before uttering, his last life;_

"_I had failed… I failed my friends… My mother… My girlfriend… My future kid…" The claws struck down._

Ash snapped his head up, his eyes widened in terror. He stood quickly and stumbled backwards, snapping from Kaori's grip.

"Ash!?" Kaori was now utterly confused on what the teen was doing. Ash turned sharply and sprinted to the middle deck, where their room was located. Kaori fought the will to not follow him, and dashed quickly after him, Pikachu sprinting on his four paws in worry. Ash reached the room and shoved himself against the door, trying to fumble with the key card. He kept dropping and after the fifth drop Ash just fell to his knees, his stomach churning and his head in agonizing pain. Ash had his head against the door, his arms encircling lower stomach, trying to not let his food leave him. After the images he just witnessed he was sick to the core at what he just saw. Premonition or not, he couldn't handle the grueling images and every time his mind went back to them he had to keep swallowing with much difficulty as to not spit up.

Kaori soon reached the fallen boy, her face twisting in horror at what she was witnessing; Ash's face was pure terror and it looked like he was trying to not throw up. Kaori swiftly grabbed the fallen key card and quickly opened the door, Ash taking his chance to run into the bathroom and slam the door shut. Kaori looked on in worry, wondering what was happening to the poor boy. She thought that she should call Dawn and tell her Ash wasn't feeling well and they wouldn't be able to attend the dinner tonight.

She whipped out her phone and dialed Dawn's number. She didn't have to wait long as Dawn's worried voice pierced her ear drums.

"What happened to you and Ash Kaori?" Was the last thing she said in her worried rant.

Kaori had to think of a story fast, "Well Ash got himself a snack earlier to keep him set until the dinner and it didn't settle right with his stomach. We won't be able to make it today." Dawn knew why Kaori couldn't make it: she needed to stay and make sure Ash would be okay.

"I understand. If you two feel good enough to join though please do. It's awkward when people call me and Brock a couple." Kaori giggled silently at Dawn's comment but understood. Kaori gave the ok and shut off the phone, switching on the T.V. A few minutes later Ash came out wearing a blue t-shirt and black shorts, his hat noticeably missing.

The boy had a confused look on his face, "Why aren't you at the dinner? I'm sure it would be better than staying with someone who's afraid of you and doesn't want to talk with you?" Ash said as he sat on his bed, inching closer to where his backpack was located.

Kaori however shook her head, removing her scrunchie, "I was hoping we could patch up. Sure we didn't really talk that much all throughout your journey." Ash nodded to that, they really only met up when Ash got himself separated from the group somehow. They chatted for a little bit before Ash heard his friends called him, they split up and it would just be the same thing when they met up again.

"How do you plan on doing that? You know that I would just ignore you and it would turn to _shit_ once again." Ash sneered, sitting cross legged. Seeing the pained look on the violet eyes girls face, he flinched and thought of something.

He sighed, "If you go to the dinner tonight we'll talk the next day. Also, say high to Misty for me. She never got to meet you, and I'm pretty sure Dawn invited Misty to the dinner." He looked up and saw Kaori glance at him, "I promise ok?" Kaori sighed but nodded nonetheless and, grabbing her scrunchie and a keycard, left the room. Ash sighed, he never went back on a promise and Kaori wasn't that bad as a friend, just the flirting part. But she said it was part of her character so Ash couldn't complain.

As he was pulling out the files a thought popped into his head, "What were those two images anyway? They looked to be as if they were premonitions if anything." He mumbled. Suddenly a voice entered through his ears and he jumped off his bed and landed on Kaori's.

"I can answer that for you." A feline spoke. Ash, after landing on the girl's bed, stared up at the genetically cloned Pokemon: Mewtwo.

Ash shook out of his stupor and asked, "If you know; what are these…images!?" There were so many words encircling Ash's head, too many thoughts smashing into his memory receptors, brain and other parts of his head. He didn't mind the first one, the picture was sweet, but the second one was so grotesque, seeing all the blood and pleading, dying family members, begging for the betraying husbands or wives to come back and hopefully save them from the supports that were entering their limbs, and the buildings of concrete and wood to turn their bones into dust.

Ash shook his head forcefully, trying to rid his head of the images in his mind.

Mewtwo took the liberty of talking again, freeing Ash from the gruesome image, "Those thoughts, reflections, that you saw, were two different timelines. Two dimensions, from your choices through this Operation you will be taking place in, will affect which outcome shall rise above the other. There is however a middle ground in this, and it has hidden itself even before Arceus himself, and he cannot find it. Only you can discover this, but it being good or bad is unknown." As Mewtwo said this, Ash got himself caught up in the visions again and, with what Mewtwo said, realized that these did seem different in their own aspects, but was confused on one thing.

"I know that I was in there, but who was the older girl in the first picture, and the teenage girl I was with in the second one?" Ash was desperate to know who that girl was, and why in the second one they were boyfriend and girlfriend!?

Mewtwo wouldn't budge, "If I were to tell you than that may change the flow of time. All I can say is be careful with your decisions, because all will have consequences in the end."

Ash shook his head, "Why are you telling me this?"

Mewtwo popped a grin, "Well you helped me see the light in how humans really are, then you saved me from being captured by Giovanni. I owe you more than I can repay in a life time."

Ash nodded, "And I know how you know about the OP, reading my mind," Ash said tapping his head, to which Mewtwo nodded, "How will you be able to help me?"

Mewtwo thought about it, "I could sabotage, get inside and screw up their planning. If it comes to that anyway."

Ash nodded, rubbing his chin, "Alright then. All I have to do is finish reading over the material and get in contact with that Warrior. I appreciate the assistance Mewtwo."

"Anytime." He said as he disappeared. Ash pulled out the folders but;

"**Maybe I should head to the dinner."**

**Me: Now, while the comment Ash made about the gun, while that may seem out of place; you gotta think that Ash WOULD do something like that. Right?**


End file.
